Reduced-size motion picture films and the photographing and projection thereof

ABSTRACT

Photographic methods are disclosed whereby raw film is exposed, developed and projected to obtain a quantity of motion picture film which is only a fraction of that normally used to view the same photographed field. One method comprises producing successive, anamorphic images on a raw film which are compressed in only one direction with substantially no spacing existing between successive images and then developing and printing the raw film to obtain positive film having similarly sized images. Another method comprises producing successive, anamorphic images on a raw film which are compressed equally in two perpendicular directions with substantially no spacing existing between successive images and then developing and printing the raw film to obtain a positive film having similarly dimensioned images.

United States Patent 'Yoshida 14 1 Jan. 25, 1972 [S4] REDUCED-SIZEMOTION PICTURE FILMS AND THE PHOTOGRAPHING AND PROJECTION THEREOF [72]Inventor: Shigeo Yoshida, No. 406, Chyohuunoki- 1 machi, Ota-ku, Tokyo,Japan Dec. 21, 1964 Japan June 10, 1965 Japan 1,984,264 12/1934Gualtierotti ..352/80 2,007,018 7/1935 La Porte .352/80 1,540,902 6/1925Rogers 352/1 14 1,957,745 5/1934 Wildhaber 352/43 2,000,470 5/1935Miller 352/44 2,528,840 11/1950 Mitchell 352/79 3,396,021 8/1968Monteleon et al.. 352/38 1,829,634 10/1931 Chretien 352/239 2,006,2336/1935 Chretien ..352/5 3,165,969 l/l965 Gunn ..352/38 PrimaryExaminer-Louis R. Prince Assistant ExaminerJoseph W. RoskosAttorney-Robert E. Burns [57] ABSTRACT Photographic methods aredisclosed whereby raw film is exposed, developed and projected to obtaina quantity of motion picture film which is only a fraction of thatnormally used to view the same photographed field. One method comprisesproducing successive, anamorphic images on a raw film which arecompressed in only one direction with substantially no spacing existingbetween successive images and then developing and printing the raw filmto obtain positive film having similarly sized images. Another methodcomprises producing successive, anamorphic images on a raw film whichare compressed equally in two perpendicular directions withsubstantially no spacing existing between successive images and thendeveloping and printing the raw film to obtain a positive film havingsimilarly dimensioned images.

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REDUCED-SIZE MOTION PICTURE FILMS AND THE PHOTOGRAPIIING AND PROJECTIONTHEREOF This a continuation of application Ser. No. 515,092, filed Dec.20, i965, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to photographic processes wherebytremendous amounts of motion picturefilm and related materials may besaved as compared to conventional processes.

In previous practice, the standard frame dimensions for a 35 mm. film,for example, have been 22x16 mm., on which photographing and projectionhave been accomplished.

Such practice has required vast quantities of film and the silvercontents thereof in photographing and printing motion picture films. Inaddition, the related labor costs have been enormous for such workers ascameramen, assistants, projection engineers in the motion picturetheater, carriers of raw film and motion picture and other films,repairers of motion picture film, supervisors of various films instorage, and so forth, with the result that the accumulated labor costand the ever increasing space for storingthe films have placed themotion picture industry in a financial predicament. These disadvantages,are in fact daily aggravated by the current trend of the motion pictureindustry toward longer films and wider screens.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new halfsize motionpicture film to adequately improve the aforementioned defects of themotion picture industry.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method ofmanufacturing and projecting the half-size motion picture film.

Another object of the invention is to provide a photographic process forproducing wide screen pictures with a saving of one-half the amount offilm normally expended on wide screen pictures.

This invention provides a motion picture film which is a continuation offrames having sizes which are vertically reduced by one-half as comparedwith the standard size and wherein the number of frames driven per unittime is equal to that of the standard-size motion picture film while thedriven quantity of the film is designed to be one-half of the standardsize.

Furthermore, the half-size motion picture film provided by the inventionis a continuation of frames vertically reduced by one-half of thestandard size and also with the sound-recorded part as one-half of thestandard size moreover, the number of frames driven per unit time isequal to that of the standard-size motion picture film while the drivenquantity of the. film is designed to be a half of the standard-sizemotion picture film.

The half-size motion picture film involves the photographing andrestorative projecting system based on anamorphous images and thephotographing and projecting system based on slightly anamorphous orright images.

The invention provides a method of photographing and projecting by meansof the half-size motion picture film, which method comprises theexposure of raw film by the use of an anamorphous optical system inorder to obtain anamorphous images reduced by one-half in size in thevertical direction (including the horizontally reduced images by theanamorphous lens) as against the horizontal direction of thephotographed scenes, the development of such film to produce a negativewhich is a continuation of frames with vertically reduced images formedon each frame, the printing of the negative to produce the positive, andthe projection of right images on the screen by the use of ananamorphous optical system of the projector so that the obtained imagesmay be extended and restored in inverse proportion to the reducedanamorphous images. This motion picture film can be viewed not on thesocalled wide screens but on the standard-size screen.

Moreover, the invention provides another method of photographing andprojecting by means of the half-size'motion picture film, which methodcomprises the exposure and photographing of the motion picture film bythe use of a certain optical system in order to obtain right or slightlyanamorphous images, i.e., undistorted images on the film reduced byone-half in size in the vertical direction, the development of the filmto produce a negative vertically reduced film on which right or slightlyanamorphous images are formed, and the obtaining of wide orstandard-sized motion pictures from the images on the film thus obtainedby means of a certain optical system.

The reverse film may be used in the photographing and projecting of themotion picture film of the invention which is a continuation of thecompressed or reduced images. In this case, the positive film may beobtained immediately through development after photographing, with theotherwise required intermediate process of printing from the negative tothe positive being omitted.

In relation to the photographing and projecting of each type of theabove-discussed half-size motion picture film, the following machineryis found to be preferable and required.

Such machinery contains a half-size motion picture film photographingequipment which mainly consists of means to feed raw film, a system ofkinematographic lenses, a mechanism equipped with an intermittent rakingclaw of a stroke reduced by one-half as compared with the standardcamera, and an aperture vertically reduced to one-half of the standardsize, in order to take the vertically reduced images compared with thestandard size on raw film.

Such machinery also contains a half-size motion picture film projectorwhich consists of a projecting mechanism and a sound-regeneratingmechanism which handle the motion picture film with images verticallyreduced to one-half of the standard size. The projecting mechanismcomprises a system of projecting lenses, a driving mechanism with thesame number of revolutions of the filmdriving sprocket as the standardprojector and with one-half the number of teeth on the sprocket ascompared to the standard projector, and an aperture region withapertures vertically reduced one-half in size. The sound-regeneratingmechanism comprises a driving means with its film-driving speed reducedby half and a slit mirror with the width of the slit being one-half thenormal size.

However, the sizes of motion picture film now in prevalent use are 35mm., 70 mm., or 16 mm., so that it is considered to be especiallydesirable to provide a changeover type of projector which can use boththe standard motion picture film and the half-size motion picture filmof the present invention.

Details of the objects, constructions, features, performances, andeffects of this invention other than described above will be clarifiedin the following explanation made with reference to the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are front elevation views respectively of the motionpicture film of this invention and the standard motion picture filmgiven in comparison;

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are side elevation views of photographing andprojecting lenses, respectively;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of an anamorphous lens for horizontalcompression combined with the system of lenses in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the motion picture camera;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a part of the movement of the same camera;

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are sketch diagrams showing other examples of theintermittent action of the raking claw in the movement of the camera;

FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B are comparison views of the aperture of the camera;

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are comparison views of the aperture of theprojector;

FIG. 10 is a sketch diagram of the recording device,

FIG. 11 is a front elevation view of another embodiment of the motionpicture film provided by the invention;

FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 are side elevation views of other embodiments ofphotographing lenses and projecting lenses, respectively;

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B are explanatory views of the projection of themotion picture film of this invention and the standard film,respectively;

2. A process according to claim 1; wherein said successive, anamorphicimages compressed in said direction of said longitudinal axis have onedimension a predetermined number of times greater than anotherdimension.
 3. A process according to claim 1; wherein said successive,anamorphic images compressed in said direction of said longitudinal axisare rectangular and have the larger dimension a predetermined number oftimes greater than the smaller dimension.
 4. A process according toclaim 3; wherein said larger dimension is equal to twice said smallerdimension.
 5. A process according to claim 3; further including the stepof projecting said successive, anamorphic images compressed in saiddirection of said longitudinal axis contained on said positive film at aspeed proportional to said predetermined number.
 6. A process accordingto claim 5; wherein said step of producing successive, anamorphic latentimages compressed in said direction of said longitudinal axIs includescompressing given-sized images and wherein said step of projectingsuccessive, anamorphic images compressed in one direction includesrestoring said successive, anamorphic images compressed in saiddirection of said longitudinal axis to their uncompressed size whereinthey represent a replica of said photographed field.
 7. A processaccording to claim 5; wherein said step of projecting at a speedproportional to said predetermined number comprises projecting at aspeed inversely proportional to said predetermined number.
 8. A processaccording to claim 1; further including the step of projecting saidsuccessive, anamorphic images compressed in said direction of saidlongitudinal axis contained on said positive film at a speedproportional to the amount said successive, anamorphic images arecompressed.
 9. A process according to claim 8; wherein said step ofproducing successive, anamorphic latent images compressed in saiddirection of said longitudinal axis includes compressing given-sizedimages and wherein said step of projecting successive, anamorphic imagesincludes restoring said successive, anamorphic images to their normal,uncompressed size wherein they represent a replica of said photographedfield.
 10. A photographic process for producing wide screen picturescomprising: producing successive, substantially undistorted latentimages compressed equally in two perpendicular directions of anelongated photographed field on a raw film with substantially no spacingbetween successive images, each image having one dimension apredetermined number of times greater than another dimension; developingsaid raw film to obtain negative film having said successive,substantially undistorted images compressed equally in two perpendiculardirections thereon with substantially no spacing between successiveimages; and printing said negative film to obtain positive film havingsaid successive, substantially undistorted images compressed equally intwo perpendicular directions thereon with substantially no spacingbetween successive images.
 11. A process according to claim 10; whereinsaid successive, substantially undistorted images compressed equally intwo perpendicular directions are rectangularly shaped.
 12. A processaccording to claim 11; wherein said larger dimension is equal to twicesaid smaller dimension.
 13. A process according to claim 10; furtherincluding projecting on a screen said successive, substantiallyundistorted images compressed equally in two perpendicular directionscontained on said positive film to obtain a wide screen replica of saidelongated photographed field.
 14. A process according to claim 13;wherein said step of producing successive, substantially undistortedimages compressed equally in two perpendicular directions comprisesfocusing successive images of said elongated photographed field on saidraw film by an optically aligned wide conversion and spherical lenssystem; and wherein said step of projecting said successive,substantially undistorted images compressed equally in two perpendiculardirections comprise focusing said successive images contained on saidpositive film by an optically aligned spherical and wide conversion lenssystem onto a screen to obtain a wide screen replica of saidphotographed field.